Colleagues, today we begin line-by-line consideration of the Bill. Before we start, I repeat that Members may, if they wish, remove their jackets during Committee meetings. Will everyone ensure that all electronic devices are turned off or switched to silent mode?
The selection list for today’s sitting is available in the room. It shows how selected amendments have been grouped together for debate. Amendments grouped together are generally on the same or similar issues. The Member who has put their name to the leading amendment in a group is called first. Other Members are then free to catch my eye to speak on all or any of the amendments in that group. A Member may speak more than once in a single debate, and I will work on the assumption that the Minister wishes the Committee to reach a decision on all Government amendments.
Please note that decisions on amendments do not take place in the order in which the amendments are debated, but in the order in which they appear on the amendment paper. In other words, debate occurs according to the selection and grouping list, and decisions are taken when we come to the clause that the amendment affects. I hope that explanation is helpful.
We are still waiting for Mr Hancock, but we will continue. I will use my discretion to decide whether to allow a separate stand part debate on individual clauses and schedules following debates on relevant amendments.

Louise Haigh: I absolutely agree with the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. Several issues relating to our withdrawal from the European Union will affect not only the measures in the Bill—particularly on spectrum divergence—but the UK digital economy as a whole. I know that the industry is extremely concerned about the implications of Brexit.
BT has also promised to extend G.fast to most UK homes by 2025, but this is unlikely to push the overall coverage figure much beyond 60% to 70% as by then Virgin Media will have already been able to deliver into much of the same areas. That goes to the point made by the hon. Gentleman, because it leaves the final third who are still out of the loop. On top of that, 5G-based mobile broadband should also be able to deliver 100 megabits-plus, and that will play a role, although mobile performance is notoriously variable and delivers much slower speeds outside urban areas. Once again, the challenge will be to bring ultrafast speeds to the final third, which would probably require a repeat of the Broadband Delivery UK programme, albeit with G.fast instead of VDSL as the main technology, and another round of public funding. That is why we need those commitments to fibre and other technologies. The former Digital Economy Minister has already hinted at that.
We must review the progress of the USO on at least an annual basis, hence amendment 82, which sets in stone how often the USO should be reviewed by Ofcom to ensure that those who rely solely on the USO will not be left behind while the rest of the country develops faster broadband and mobile coverage. It is right that the minimum service level is set in secondary legislation so that it can be easily amended as and when necessary, but we must know how the USO is to be reviewed and how Parliament and consumers will be involved in that process, rather than an arbitrary target being set that is convenient for Government and providers.
It is good to see that the Government will be consulting on proposals for secondary legislation once Ofcom has reported, including on the detail of the USO, its design and implementation. It would also be helpful to know who the Government intend to consult. Will it be a full public consultation in the usual timeframes or will it be with Government-appointed consultees?
Given that at this stage we are being asked to vote based on very little detail, we should have the opportunity to hear from the Minister annually about the progress of roll-out and how on target that is. Hon. Members of all parties will have an interest and will want to be kept  updated, not least because the Government have had to revise the target dates for several of their broadband commitments a number of times. The original date of completion for universal access to 2 megabits was 2012, but the coalition Government changed that to 2015 and later revised it to 2016. On superfast, there has been a similar history of delay and missed milestones. The Government had originally targeted 2015, but revised the target to 90% of homes by December 2016 and then altered it to 95% of premises by 2017. It will not now be fully delivered until 2022. Labour left office with fully costed plans for universal broadband access by 2012, something that has still not been achieved by this Government. Five million people still do not have broadband, thanks to the Government’s bungling procurement and lack of vision for a competitive, future-proofed digital infrastructure. It is only reasonable that the Minister reports to the House on an annual basis on the progress made on the very laudable USO and the continued roll-out of BDUK.

Chris Matheson: I absolutely agree with that suggestion. BT has used copper assets well to manage to get a large proportion of the country up to a decent standard quickly. The Minister made a good point in the evidence sessions when he challenged the BT director of strategy on the number of premises that were connected to fibre, by suggesting that in fact those premises were not all connected by fibre, but were connected by copper loop to a box that was connected by fibre. The Minister was absolutely right to make that proposal. My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Heeley made an extremely valuable point about the controversies that continue within the telecoms industry. It is not an industry that sits comfortably with itself; everyone seems to be at each other’s throats. There is competition, there is healthy competition and there are outright dog-eat-dog hostilities. I wonder whether they fight too much among themselves and take their eyes off the ball when it comes to serving the consumer. A proper, annual parliamentary process that can focus the attention of the industry, as well as of Ministers, and give Parliament the chance to consider how this important and critical piece of national infrastructure is rolling out would be extremely valuable. To quote the Minister, it would hold the industry’s feet to the fire annually.
The hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is right: we should not be limiting our ambition. The amendment proposes an annual review to see how far we can take our ambition in the forthcoming period. I hope to see—as the hon. Gentleman suggests—a roll-out of fibre to premises as the baseline standard in coming years. The one concern I have about the industry, which the amendment touches on, is that we will be driving forward with higher capacity and capability standards across 80% of the country, but those areas that are currently notspots will remain notspots. I hope that will be covered by other parts of the Bill, and that the Minister will address that. This amendment, though, will focus the attention of the industry on delivery by requiring it to report annually to Parliament via Ministers and via Ofcom. We can see who is delivering and who is not, and why not. It is an excellent amendment, and I am pleased to support my hon. Friend.